The present invention generally relates to a nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device using a silicon substrate, a method for manufacturing the same, and a refresh method thereof, and more specifically, to a technology of providing a one transistor (1T) capacitorless type nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device using a bulk-silicon substrate.
In general, a DRAM requires a continuous power supply to store data as a volatile memory. When a power is not supplied, data of a RAM may be destroyed because a memory cell of the DRAM is designed to have small capacitors for keeping the charged power and for retaining the data. If these capacitors are not recharged, the capacitor loses the previously charged power, thus losing the data.
A refresh operation refers to a recharging process of a memory cell in a memory chip. Memory cells in a row can be charged in each refresh cycle. Although the refresh operation is performed by memory control of the system, some chips are designed to perform a self-refresh operation.
For example, there is disclosed a DRAM chip, which has a self-refresh circuit configured to perform a self-refresh operation without a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or an external refresh circuit. The self-refresh method has been frequently used in portable computers to reduce power consumption.
In the conventional volatile DRAM having a short refresh cycle, the refresh operation is frequently performed, which results in large power consumption and degradation of operation performance.
As an example of these integrated circuits, a nonvolatile ferroelectric memory, such as a Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) device, which has attracted considerable attention as a next generation memory device because it has a data processing speed as fast as a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and conserves data even after the power is turned off.
An FeRAM having a structure similar to that of a DRAM includes capacitors made of a ferroelectric substance, which has a high residual polarization allowing for retention of data after power is turned off.
A One-Transistor One-Capacitor (1T1C) type unit cell of the conventional FeRAM includes one switching element configured to perform a switching operation depending on a state of a word line so as to connect a nonvolatile ferroelectric capacitor to a bit line, and one nonvolatile ferroelectric capacitor connected between a plate line and one end of the switching element. The switching element of the conventional FeRAM is an NMOS transistor whose switching operation is controlled by a gate control signal.